6 thousand years ago the tomb was used as an Observatory

01.07.2016

Portuguese prehistoric tombs, whose age is estimated at about six thousand years, might concurrently serve as one of the first observatories in the history of mankind. To such conclusion the group of scientists, predstavlyayushie the Nottingham Trent University. As a “telescope” for observing distant stars, according to scientists, the ancient people could use the entrances to the burial.

photo: ru.wikipedia.org

As stated by the authors of the study, speaking at a conference of the Royal astronomical society in Nottingham, their attention was attracted by the fact that the outputs of research they have Portuguese tombs are oriented in a certain way. As shown by calculations of researchers, in the past, these outlets could “look” in the direction of the star Aldebaran — the brightest in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest in all the sky.Experts suggest that this star was for the ancient communities, particularly pastoralists, great value, allowing, in particular, to follow the changing seasons.

Experts believe that a comparison of the long and narrow corridors with telescopes is generally valid, despite the fact that, at first glance, such a telescope doing exactly lenses. The researchers note that the tunnel helped “weed out” unnecessary light and thus enabled better to see the stars on the site, which were monitored. Also the fact that most of it was hidden from view, allowed a better focus on the object of observation.

Researchers call this and some circumstantial evidence that the tomb could be both observatories. In particular, the benefit of this can speak to the fact that people in the ancient “responsible” for the funeral rituals at the same time possessed astronomical knowledge, therefore, staying the night in a tomb buried with them in person, they could spend some time just observing the starry sky in order to predict the seasons and establish them as people with supernatural knowledge.

In the future, the researchers plan to cross-check their findings, modelling the conditions of the tomb of Observatory in laboratory conditions.